The European Court of Human Rights has upheld Germany’s anti-incest laws and has affirmed the sentence of a man sent to prison for fathering children with his sister.

The Court concluded that the human rights of Patrick Stuebing were not violated when he was sent to jail for three years in 2005 for his sexual affair with his allegedly psychologically troubled sister Susan Karolewski, whom he had met as an adult after being adopted in early childhood.

The Court cited several justifications for the law’s existence, including “protection of the family” and “self-determination and public health,” which are “set against the background of a common conviction that incest should be subject to criminal liability.”